A 53-year-old violinist performs during surgery to remove a brain tumour to ensure the parts of her brain that control hand coordination are not affected.
While patients have been prompted to perform language tests during tumour removals, this was the first time that anyone had been asked to play a musical instrument. Professor Ashkan, who holds a degree in music and is an accomplished pianist, came up with a tailored plan to preserve Ms Turner's musical skills while fulfilling the millimetre-precise needs of the operation.
"We knew how important the violin is to Dagmar so it was vital that we preserved function in the delicate areas of her brain that allowed her to play," Professor Ashkan said. "We managed to remove over 90 per cent of the tumour, including all the areas suspicious of aggressive activity, while retaining full function in her left hand."She returned home to her husband and son, with her violin skills apparently intact after more than 40 years of playing. "Professor Ashkan and the team at King's went out of their way to plan the operation — from mapping my brain, to planning the position I needed to be in to play," Ms Turner said."The thought of losing my ability to play was heartbreaking but, being a musician himself, Professor Ashkan understood my concerns." Located in south London, King's College Hospital performs around 400 surgeries to remove brain tumours each year.
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